Song of the Day: You Rascal You

News for the world: I'm not dead. Papers and exams kept me from the wonderful world of blogging (again) and I'll probably disappear again next week, my one and only hell week of the semester. I tried this new thing where I don't procrastinate and just get work done, which actually worked! Honestly though, if blogger actually had a real iPhone app and not the one where you can upload pictures but have absolutely no idea how big they will be or where they will be in your post, I probably would have been posting in class.

Anywho.

In honor of my literary jazz class take-home midterm being assigned tomorrow, I'm making this 1930s Louis Armstrong classic "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You" as Song of the Day. Every time I listen to this song I can't help but laugh a little under my breath. I think Louis' laugh is kind of contagious. Oh and if you can't tell, yes he is surrounded by bubbles. If you watch "A Rhapsody of Black and Blue" you'll kind of get it...sort of. 

What Lies Ahead

via weheartit.com

"Life isn't always about what you can see, but instead what you don't see at all" 

Fashion Feature: Nyane & Mpho

I actually found this tumblr page a while back, and for the life of me could not remember the name of the page. These sisters from South Africa are uniquely named Nyane and Mpho, so forgive me for not remembering the tumblr name. Cool names, cool styles. I like it.

via nyane-mpho.tumblr.com/

Cupcakes by Pinisi

The purple one? Lavender in cupcake form. It's actually not as ridiculous as it sounds though; I've heard a lot of people tell me that they've tried lavender ice cream and actually liked it a lot. Besides my experience with it, Brian and my friends didn't seem to have the same feeling towards it. However, the red velvet (on the right) was a hands-down success, so I'm definitely giving them the benefit of the doubt. I'm officially a huge fan of this little bakery in the East Village. Pinisi is Zagat rated and has been reviewed by NYMag...so they know their stuff. And their cupcakes, no matter what anyone says about the lavender cupcake.  

Gladys Knight and the Pips, Posterized

I bought this poster back in October in Orlando, when I was visiting Brian at his old college. I still can't believe I found it for 5 bucks. The record store hoarding Gladys was called Rock and Roll Heaven, but I could definitely be wrong about the name honestly. All I know is, the place we went to had a back room that had that same Frankincense kind of smell that an older carpeted Catholic church would have...or at least what my church did have before they renovated it and put in tiles. That decision was probably for the best. I'd like to give Rock and Roll Heaven (air quoted) the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is authentic -- and by authentic I mean a replica of a real -- advertisement of Gladys Knight and the Pips performance back in the day, because lets be honest...this is a sweet poster. This little thing is proof that Orlando really isn't all that horrible. Or at least the downtown area isn't.

Lip Bitter Fashion

I think I just found my new favorite tumblr. Pictures after pictures after pictures of just stuff. Stuff like street fashion, and cute clothes, and boutiques, and accessories...and just fun stuff. I love it. This is some of my favorite stuff from the blog, properly titled "Vogue".

via http://lip-bitter.tumblr.com/

R.I.P Whitney Houston

Usually I don't post R.I.P posts or statuses when an artist dies, but this needs to be done for one of the greatest female vocalists of our time. You will be missed. 

"Didn't we almost have it all.."

C.R.E.A.M

via Jota Castro

Jota Castro, Mortgage (2009)

Dollar Bills, Rope

Dimensions Variable

...well.

Freestyle Friday

For the record, I am not conforming or losing the creativity I had a couple of weeks ago for Freestyle Saturday...I just really want to post this video and today happened to be Friday. So we'll call it convenience for good measure.

This is another freestyle from the documentary "The Art of Rhyming", which pretty much proves that I need to fix my life and watch this doc immediately. Just a casual day in Brooklyn (I think it's Brooklyn?) surrounded by a group of people, and Mos Def/Yasiin Bey takes over. This video was shown to me by none other than...Brian, of course, and I still pretend that I also freestyle in the middle of a group of people on a random day in the park. Well, not so much pretend. I do it...I just don't like to brag.

Left Brain, Right Brain

They should have just had this picture up for 30 seconds as a commercial during the Superbowl. Honestly. 

To the Mercedes-Benz print advertising team: This is genius. And beautiful.  

Text in the Advertisement:

"I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am." 

“I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.”

Song of the Day: Tu Comprends?

In case you were wondering, "Quelqu'un m'a dit" means "Someone told me" in French. 

I can't believe this is my first post about a song in my mother tongue...weird. Brian, his little sister and I watched 500 days of summer a couple of months ago; I'd seen the movie before and rediscovered it when we all watched together, but I guess that doesn't really explain why I'm posting this song today. My train of thought today about the song went as follows, sort of:

1.  "Yayyy Morgan and Alex (two of my best friends from home) will be here in like 2 weeks!!!!"
2. "Wait. What was that french song Morgan asked me to translate for her senior year?"
3. "Umm, 500 days of summer!...I love that movie."
4. "When did I watch it again?...Winter break?"
5. "Brian definitely downloaded that song from the car scene, I think. I'm finding it and blogging about it.."

So that's pretty much it. I really do love this song, (Carla Bruni's "Quelqu'un m'a dit") although I seem to find a lot of trouble translating the words. It's not so much that she's speaking ridiculously fast to me, but that combined with her mouse-like soft spoken voice makes it kind of difficult. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

Designer Nicholas K was the first to start of the 2012 Fashion Week in NYC bright and early this morning at 9am. The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week goes from Feb 9th to the 16th, so get out to any one of the many locations to see a show if you can! If anything, do it for me. 

For the schedule of the events and shows at Fashion Week, click here! 

Update for the world

via Donna Grayson 

4 days worth of Advil, 3 tissue boxes, a bottle or 2 of DayQuil + NyQuil, and 1 pack of Apple Cider flavored Halls Cough Drops later and I am  a l i v e . I have miraculously survived the plague, pretty much on a hope and a prayer, and I'm back from my mini hiatus. Living in this dorm room for the past week has been hell on Earth and I apologize to my roommate, my boyfriend, my teammates, and any person whom I have come in contact anywhere within 3 feet, who has or will have caught the plague...it's definitely my fault -- my bad.

Chain Heavy

taken by B. Wright (iPhone)

"I'm a Nike head, I wear chains that excite the feds..."